Bringing Life Back to the Gore

Many cities have no identifiable "heart" or town centre. New developments in
the 1960s and '70s replaced many historic city centres with bland office towers
that add 15 degrees to the chill of a winter day by acting as wind tunnels.

Hamilton is blessed to have our city centre, Gore Park, largely intact today
just as it was over 150 years ago.

Has their been pressure over the years to develop the site? Sure. Folks older
than me will remember the Gore Park Massacre in the 1980s, recommended, no less,
by a Toronto firm. (I guess folks from T.O. think inner-city green space is
simply land waiting to be built on.)

There have been proposals to build highrise buildings on the site and, in
true Hamilton fashion, even a proposal to pave over the park with a parking
lot. (I still think that Joni Mitchell had Hamilton in mind.)

Lots of Opportunity

We're a great city for building downtown parking lots. On the positive side,
those same lots hold our future. Thankfully, we missed the highrise craze of
the 1970s and even though empty lots do nothing for the core, at least we can
now plan and prepare for some street-oriented mixed use developments in the
future.

Our city reminds me of Montreal with the mountain lookouts and harbour in the
distance with a massive bridge spanning the water. Let's plan properly so our
empty lots will see construction of beautiful buildings with wonderful
streetfronts to help animate and bring life and people back to our streets,
just like Montreal.

Montreal at night: a model for Hamilton to follow?

Speaking of street-oriented development, let's take a quick look at the south
side of King Street at Gore Park. This is Hamilton's piece of Europe. Our place
for people, festivals, art, music, patios and family fun.

Well, at least it could be.

In recent years there, a painfully slow but sure revitalization has begun to
take place on this street. Mahal Indian Restaurant has applied to the city for
a summertime patio much like the one next door at Infusions Coffee House.

Street-front patios exist on the next block at Chesters and Fingers. I hope
someone will come along and open another restaurant in the old Zig Zag Zebra
space. It was a fabulous place with another patio on King.

So, what are all these buses doing sitting out front idling away before they
roar back up the mountain? In fact, why do we allow any vehicle traffic at all
on this stretch of King?

Car-Free Downtown

Hamilton has only one pedestrian street downtown and it's a whopping one
block stretch of George St. in Hess Village. The south leg of King should be
next - and soon.

Close your eyes and imagine with me for a moment: no more cars or buses on
the south side of King. We can build a new bus terminal on McNab Street with a
few commercial spaces at street level to animate the area.

A pedestrian-only street should be designated by the city for future
development on the parking lot next to the Pigott building. This pedestrian
street would be a continuation of the south side of King westerly across James
and right over to the new terminal at McNab.

Whatever new building is built on the parking lot should have streetfront
retail space on James and fronting on the new pedestrian street.

Suddenly a typical, boring downtown becomes a substantial pedestrian street
with an animated commercial streetscape, the entire way from John to McNab.

Now think back to my earlier statement: people, festivals, art, music, patios
and family fun.
This could be Hamilton's downtown. King Street East from James to Ferguson would
be ideal to close down on weekends.

Imagine this street filled with pedestrians

King William is begging to be made into a pedestrian street, or at the very
least close to automobiles on weekends along with Hughson, another street with
a very nice pedestrian feel to it.

A Proper Farmers' Market

Maybe the Farmers' Market could move to the huge lot next to the Pigott
building, or the main entrance area of Jackson Square. Knock down the corner of
the mall right back to the base of the Stelco Tower to the west and old Bank of
Montreal pavilion to the north, and suddenly a sizeable public space has been
created.

The market could build a new facility inside with an open, airy feel and
removable walls to open out onto the new public square in nice weather. Vendors
could come outside in the summer and bring back a piece of Hamilton's history.

Vibrant street scene in downtown Winnipeg

The historic buildings along King would surely get bought and renovated into
lofts and condos on the upper floors, as a current proposal for the Chesters
building is calling for.

The fact that three establishments have streetfront patios and now another is
applying for one should be a signal to the city that despite the shunting noise
of buses, people want to be here, downtown.

King and James already has great potential

Let's show our core businesses that we care about them and are willing to
invest in their surroundings. Let's create an atmosphere of fun and excitement
all year round at Gore Park.

Our suburban residents would finally drag themselves downtown once in a while
instead of having to go to Toronto for a lively, urban experience.

Portland Saturday Market

Ever heard of Portland's Saturday Market? very Saturday and Sunday from
March to December, vendors line up and sell everything from ethnic food to arts
and crafts. Musicians and buskers entertain the crowds of young and old.

For several years this market has become the place to be in Portland. It's
great for local businesses, great for the downtown core and great for the city.
Again, we're talking about image building - it seems to be a common theme in
Hamilton lately.

The Saturday Market's success has now led to a comprehensive planning process
in which an official market district is being developed in Portland. It's
modeled after European markets, known around the world as some of the most
lively and vibrant places anywhere.

Portland's new market district is sure to become such a spot in North
America.

Portland Public Market site

Hamilton once had Canada's best Farmers Market. Now it's relegated to an
underground parking garage. Amazingly, the vendors don't seem to mind, since
they have been so vocal in recent years against any suggestions to move to a
better location.

This is so typical of Hamilton. We need to loosen up and learn how to have
fun again. Hanging out at Sprawl-Mart is not fun.

Moving Back

Downtown Hamilton, for all it's warts, enjoys a strong market for new
residential units. People are sick of suburbs and living in their cars for
three hours a day, and have begun down 2, 3 and $400,000 to live in downtown
lofts and condos.

That's with a street design favouring high-speed cars and trucks at the
expense of pedestrians. Imagine how popular the city would be with friendlier
pedestrian space.

Gore Park is our city's heart, and signs are pointing to a rebirth of this
heart. Let's urge our city Councillors and mayor to move forward with the
pedestrianizing of King Street.

Making the south leg of King a pedestrian-only street was one of Mayor
DiIanni's top ten things to do in 2005. Let's hold him to it and, in the
process, rediscover how fun life can be in the heart of the city.

Jason Leach was born and raised in the Hammer and currently lives downtown with his wife and children. You can follow him on twitter.